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"Saturated fats are very unhealthy for the heart and will increase  
cholesterol levels, specifically the artery clogging LDL type."

I'd like to present a different perspective so that people can make  
up their minds on eating.  I strongly believe in eating "Real" food.   
Food that was eaten by our ancestors.  I believe our bodies have not  
evolved as fast as the food science industry has.  Therefore, our  
bodies do not know what to do with oils that are not natural in  
nature.  You do not find large quantities of canola (also known as  
rape seed), soy, and vegetable oils in nature.  In order to become  
oil outside of their plant seed, they must be extracted via a  
chemical and high heat process.  This is not natural and the process  
for extraction of the oil damages the molecular makeup of the oils  
not to mention leaving residual of chemicals behind.

There is new and old research showing that saturated fat is not bad  
for the heart or cholesterol levels.  Only 10 to 15 percent of the  
cholesterol contained in food actually affects your cholesterol  
levels.  The LDL cholesterol, commonly called the bad cholesterol, is  
the cholesterol that is sent out from your liver to repair cells.   
The HDL cholesterol, commonly called the good cholesterol, comes back  
to the liver.  If you have a high LDL count, it would mean you have  
alot of cellular repair going on in your body.  Cellular repair is  
most commonly needed when too much high glycemic food is ingested  
causing spikes in insulin levels.  The excess insulin damages the  
arterial walls causing repairs to be needed.  Too many repairs can  
cause stiffening of the arterial walls like putting too much tape on  
a rubber hose.

Saturated fat is actually needed for brain development in children  
and absorption of calcium in the system along with body metabolism  
levels.  Our bodies contain saturated fat and know how to process  
it.  Without saturated fat, our metabolism slow down causing more fat  
to be stored rather than burned.  By eating real food including  
animal fats, our metabolism increases and we have more energy because  
our bodies know how to process natural fat.

The entire negative campaign on saturated fats is based on poor  
science.  The concept of cholesterol causing heart disease was based  
on feeding large amounts of animal fat to rabbits who then died of  
heart problems.  First, rabbits' bodies do not have a way to  
metabolize animal fat, they are vegetarians.  Second, the amounts fed  
to the rabbits would be equivalent to humans eating their body weight  
in fat daily.  I look at the health of people eating a western diet  
with the elimination of saturated fat and find their health is worse  
today than it was prior to the low-fat push in the 1950's.  I also  
question the amount of money being made from the anti-saturated fat  
campaign by the vegetable oils ("designer fats").  There is little  
said about the fact that people with high cholesterol statistically  
live longer.  Lipitor is the number one selling drug.  There have  
been no statistical reduction in the number of heart attacks since  
LIpitor has been on the market.  In fact, heart attacks are on the  
increase but the number of deaths have decrease due to the medical  
establishments ability to save lives.  The research papers indicating  
high glycemic foods and poly-unsaturated fats (vegetable oils) are  
directly linked to the increase in heart disease get little  
attention.  The Farmington study and the Harvard Nurses' Study tried  
to prove a link between saturated fat and heart disease.  Although  
costing millions of dollars, both studies did not prove this link but  
their published results were edited.  If one goes back to the  
original study results, the link is clearly not there.

Sorry if this is a bit long.  I just find so many people do not get a  
chance to hear the other side of this story.  The chant that  
"saturated fats are bad" needs to be examined from other angles so  
that folks can make up their own minds.  This is one of the reasons  
why we went into business to make "real" food with natural  
ingredients that our bodies know what to do with.

Bren
Madwoman Foods
www.madwomanfoods.com

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